Breakdown of Den där muttern till skruven är för liten.
vara
to be
till
for (to go with)
liten
small
den där
that (en)
skruven
the screw
för
too
muttern
the nut (hardware)
Questions & Answers about Den där muttern till skruven är för liten.
Why do we use till for "for the screw" instead of för?
In Swedish, till is used to show a matching relationship or physical connection between two things. You use it for parts that belong together, like a nut to a screw (muttern till skruven), a key to a door (nyckeln till dörren), or a lid to a jar.
Why isn't it skruvens mutter? Don't we use an -s for possession?
You can use an -s for actual ownership (like pojkens bok - the boy's book), but inanimate objects don't literally "own" things. When describing parts of a whole or things that function together as a pair, Swedish strongly prefers using till over the possessive -s.
Why are we using för right before liten if we just used till to translate the English word "for"?
This is a common trap! While för can be the preposition "for", when it is placed directly before an adjective like liten, it acts as an adverb meaning "too". So för liten simply means "too small".
Why is it den där muttern with the noun in the definite form?
Whenever you use the demonstratives den här (this) or den där (that), Swedish requires the "double definite". You must use both the pointing word (den där) and the definite form of the noun (muttern). It literally translates to "that there the-nut".
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